Recently, the so-called compact disks (hereinafter referred to as “CD(s),” which will be referred to as a generic term of various CDs including not only the so-called music CD but also CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, etc.) among optical disks that have become essential as information recording mediums have been widely used.
For example, a CD-ROM exclusively used for reading recorded information is manufactured via a creation of the so-called metal master, a creation of a metal mother as a backup of the metal master, a creation of a stamper, a stamping with the stamper, a creation of a reflection layer, a formation of a protective layer on the reflection layer and label printing.
These manufacturing processes are reasonable from the aspect of cost performance in cases where a large number of CD-ROMs are manufactured at once, but may come in extremely high cost in cases where several tens of or two or three hundreds of CD-ROMs are manufactured.
Therefore, in cases where a small number of CD-ROMs are manufactured, the following method is employed. In the method, a copying machine connected to a personal computer is used, and the recorded information source from the personal computer is copied onto a non-recorded recordable CD-R loaded on the copying machine. In order to perform label printing of the CD-R on which the recorded information was copied, a label printer is used.
In practice, this label printer is connected to the copying machine. This copying machine is not a simple copying machine, and a commercially available machine (hereinafter referred to as “automatic machine”) equipped with a hand arm that continuously and automatically performs a series of operations including the loading of a CD-R to the copying machine, the unloading of the recorded CD-R after the completion of recording information (essentially, CD-ROM), the loading of the recorded CD-R to the label printer, the unloading of the printed CD-R, and the accumulation of the unloaded CD-Rs.
Although the detailed explanation of this copying machine is omitted since such explanation is not the purpose of this specification, the outline of the label printer will be explained based on FIGS. 9 and 10 as follows. A disk transferring tray 53 is mounted on the printer body 52 of the label printer 51 in an insertable and ejectable manner, and the printer body 52 is provided with ink heads (not shown) therein. FIG. 9 is a schematic plan view showing the state in which the disk transferring tray 53 is ejected from the printer body 52, and FIG. 10 is a schematic plan showing the state in which the disk transferring tray 53 is inserted in the printer body 52 with the disk D1 loaded thereon.
The disk transferring tray 53 is provided with a disk loading recessed portion 54 having a size capable of loading a 12 cm-CD with a slight margin therearound approximately at a longitudinal central portion of the tray or a middle portion of the tray in the fore-and-aft direction of the printer body 52. When the disk transferring tray 53 is inserted into the printer body 52 with a disk D1 loaded in the disk loading recessed portion 54, the disk holding member 55 as a disk holding means equipped to the disk transferring tray 53 is activated. Thus, the tip protruded portion 55a of the disk holding member 55 moves along the guide aperture 56 formed from the rear portion of the disk loading recessed portion 54 to the rear end portion to press the disk D1 against the front end portion of the disk loading recessed portion 54. Essentially, the peripheral portion of the disk is slightly slipped under the right-and-left pair of holding claws 60 and 60 to be pressed by the lower surfaces of the holding claws 60 and 60.
Thus, the disk D1 is held in the disk loading recessed portion 54 in an immovable manner, whereby the printing of the disk with an ink head can be executed accurately at the time of performing the printing in the printer body 52. After the completion of the printing, the disk transferring tray 53 is automatically ejected from the printer body 52. In the case of the aforementioned automatic machine, the hand arm picks up the disk D1 from the disk transferring tray 53. In the case of a manual operation, the unloading of the disk D1 can be performed smoothly by inserting a finger into the finger insertion aperture 59 provided at the center of the disk loading recessed portion 54 from beneath the disk transferring tray 53 and slightly pushing up the disk D1.
In figures, the reference numeral 58 denotes a window for a sensor provided in the printer body to discriminate whether a disk is loaded at the time of inserting the tray, and the reference numeral 57 denotes a die hole indispensable to form the holding claws 60 and 60.
Although the label printer 51 can be preferably used for a label printing of a standard 12 cm-CD, the printer cannot be used for a label printing of a name card type (card type) CD which has recently become available to the market as it is.
Of course, in performing label printing of a name card type (card type) CD, it is possible to employ a name card type disk adapter disclosed by, for example, Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Publication 2000-11573 A and make the aforementioned label printer execute the label printing of a name card type CD with the name card type disk adapter mounting a CD loaded in the disk loading recessed portion 54.
However, in order to mount a CD to such a disk adapter, it is required to operate engaging means such as engaging claws formed on the disk adapter. Although each operation is generally simple, in a case where there are tens or hundreds of CDs, the operations of mounting a CD on the adapter, removing the CD from the adapter after the completion of the label printing and then mounting another new CD on the adapter are troublesome. More importantly, such an adapter cannot be used in the aforementioned automatic machine that automatically performs from copies of CDs to label printing of CDs.
The present invention was made under the aforementioned technical background and aims to provide a label printer for optical disks such as CDs capable of automatically holding a name card type optical disk in an immovable manner at a printing position when a disk transferring tray is inserted in a printer body with the name card type optical disk placed at a predetermined position on the disk transferring tray without using an adapter to thereby perform a predetermined label printing.